In Marseilles FAME ended successfully with a protest march of 2000 people, united under the slogan 'Water is life, Not for Profit'. Around the same time in Vienna the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first international opium convention.

As the EU Commission, pressured by big business, perpetuates rather than resolves economic and democratic crises, where can we look for alternatives, and for action? What should Greece do to resist? What can we learn from the radical political movements of the 1960s and '70s, and from the new movements that are gaining momentum across Europe? How can we stop the next wave of commodification of the atmosphere under the guise of a "green economy"

2011 witnessed the implementation of some of the most comprehensive undemocratic structural changes in the EU since the Lisbon Treaty. Alternative proposals for a progressive exit from the euro crisis are laid out here.

Gus Van Harten discusses specific cases of investor-to-state arbitration to highlight what are the key problems with international investment treaties. How developing countries are being impacted by investment disputes and what the role is of lawyers and experts in promoting a growing international arbitration industry.

The ‘Six Pack’ has been billed by EU leaders as the solution to the sovereign debt crisis, but huge opposition from the European public, as well as an increasing number of critical economists, journalists and academics, raises serious questions about the legitimacy of their claims.

While banks and European leaders negotiate the next public bail out of private greed, and the financial speculation that caused the crisis continues unheeded, Europeans have shown that like many people around the world, from Tahrir to Syntagma Square and Wall Street, they are not going to take more neoliberal austerity lying down. The question already being asked by many observers is - where to now for the popular demonstrations?

The banks are making huge profits again while more people are made redundent from jobs whose services we actually need. Three experts share their views on the European economic crisis, and the failure of governments to take action.

The fellows and the staff of the Transnational Institute are saddened to hear that Fred Halliday has died. He was one of the most prominent experts on the Middle East and its place in international politics.

In 1995 the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) announced in a press release the publication of the results of the largest global study on cocaine use ever undertaken.

Water justice activists gathered in Cochabamba, Bolivia in August 2008
to envision just and sustainable models of water stewardship and to
build alliances that will bring these visions to fruition. A compelling
visual insight into a dynamic international movement building practical
alternatives to privatization.

Inspiring video on the experience of the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board which has broken down barriers between communities and engineers, and is pioneering a model of effective, democratic, accountable public water services.

Intercambios Asociación Civil applauds the attempt of the Supreme Court Judges to distance the criminal law from drug users, but warns that attention will have to be paid to how judges in the lower courts and police apply these criteria.

The Argentine Supreme court ruling that declares unconstitutional the imposition of criminal sanctions for the possession of small quantities of marijuana for personal use represents an important step toward distinguishing between drug use and drug trafficking.

We, representatives of social movements, labour and civil society organisations from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Europe, who are meeting in Asunción to discuss the vital importance of regional responses to the current global crisis, call upon the heads of state meeting in Asunción for the Mercosur Summit to decisively agree and implement new modalities for developmental cooperation that serves the needs of the peoples of the regions.